Joseph Scott Carter, kidnapping suspect, was senatorial candidate at war with America

Joseph Scott Carter?

The story of a Boulder County kidnapping over the weekend has gotten considerably stranger since the arrest of Joseph Scott Carter for the crime. During a court appearance yesterday, Carter urged the judge to add "levying war against the United States" to his list of crimes. Turns out he's a former senate candidate and self-proclaimed patriot (as he made clear on his bizarre MySpace page) who was busted last year for publicly threatening a co-worker while wearing chain mail body armor.

About this last incident, the Boulder Daily Camera reports that, in February, Carter was arrested by police in Longmont after he "marched down Main Street in chain mail body armor, a chain mail hood and with several knives on his belt" and shouted "Brad dies tonight!" in reference to a co-worker he blamed for getting him fired from a roadside job selling blankets.

The previous year, Carter registered to run for Senate District 31 as a Republican. According to the Colorado Secretary of State's website, he was also behind an organization called the Colorado Patriot Committee, which raised a grand total of $12 for his cause.

As for his beliefs, they're outlined on a MySpace page still accessible using Google's cache function. On it, Carter describes himself a Los Angeles-born college graduate working as a chef. More recently, he's been identified as a transient, which ties into the first item in his list of interests:

General: in general i come from a blue collar working class background and have lived in denver since i was 16, i also know whats its like to go without things in life like food and other needed survival requirements.

Music: my musical tastes include but are not limitied to heavy metal, celtic and classical.

Movies: i have a prefference for sci-fi movies but love zombie horror films.

Television: don't care much for T.V. as it truely is a wasteland of mindlessness.

Books: adventure and fantasy novels.

Heroes: these days the only people i can idolize as a hero is hiro from the heros series...

Then there's his "About me" biography, in which he outlined his reasons for his senate run. Here's his take on the character of politicians:

It is my view that all persons whom are in any position of authority, are by definition a servant of the public trust and thus must be held to the highest of personal standards concerning their ethical and moral views with regards to the responsibilities vested upon them by the general public.......... To this end these individuals should place more value upon benefit to the general public above, and there for at the forefront of their own agendas and ideals, and upon the onset of any circumstance where the integrity and, character of the person are to be called into question as to honorable and forthright service, that they must consult the general public whereas to come to a consensus as to whether they shall be allowed to continue to serve in trust to the benefit of the general public..........

Later, he took a hard line on crime:

As this aspect is becoming a more and more prevalent circumstance across the nation, I support the idea of work camps for convicted felons with hard labor for sentencing, with no perks or rewards for poor behavior, I also do not support any form of parole for offenders. As to misdemeanors I support involvement with convicted offenders serving time by doing 100 or more hours of community service for all offenses.......... With capitol offenses where life is lost I support the death penalty for across the board even application, with no concern for circumstance if the act was intentional............

At the top of the page, which was last updated in July 2009, Carter declared that he was "planning the battle royale of politics for next october." Now, his fight will be waged in the court system.

Page down to read Carter's MySpace manifesto in its entirety: